Icons of Christ: A Biblical and Systematic Theology for Women’s Ordination

Reviewed by Barbara Richardson

THERE ARE SOME who, looking for an Anglican church to attend, want to know where that church stands on ordaining women. Does it recognize women priests and deacons, rectors, bishops? This is a current question I faced when one such inquirer came to the church door a while ago. When he learned that I was the rector, he immediately turned his back on me and walked out.

Since then, I discovered the book Icons of Christ through a friend’s recommendation. Its author, Dr. William G. Witt, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Ethics at Trinity School for Ministry, wrote the book because he saw the women’s ordination issue growing in North America. He wanted to contribute to the discussion concerning women in pastoral leadership. Originally conceived as a series of essays, it grew into a 351-page book, with extensive endnotes and bibliography.

Icons of Christ, subtitled ‘A Biblical and Systematic Theology for Women’s Ordination,’ is weighty. Witt wrote to encourage women “to follow your vocations, whether lay or ordained.” Before purchasing the book, I read some reviews, including one critical of Witt’s arguments, in response to which Witt wrote a rebuttal, entitled “A review of a book I did not write.”

The women’s ordination issue is complicated, not simply between those who oppose women’s ordination from a conservative position and those who favour it from a progressive position. Witt does a good job of describing a number of positions and reasons for those positions. Conservatives may use Protestant or Roman Catholic arguments against women’s ordination. Supporters of women’s ordination may do so from liberal protestant and Catholic positions, or from an orthodox Christian position. So, conversation about the issue is complex. This book helps by detailing arguments held by various positions.

No doubt it will be a useful resource for theological schools and denominations wishing to facilitate continuing clergy education. Witt himself sees both men and women believers as people being shaped in the image of Jesus Christ, who may equally serve as presbyters in the office of Word and Sacrament. He presents opposing arguments objectively, a helpful tool for weighing the strengths and weaknesses of various positions.

Besides spending most of the book on the current and traditional Protestant and Roman Catholic biblical and theological arguments, in Chapter 1 Witt also identifies four non-theological arguments made in regard to women’s ordination in some church circles: (1) the secular egalitarian argument, (2) the argument from ‘Consequences,’ (3) the argument from ‘Rights,’ and (4) the argument from ‘Discrimination’ (all of which he dismisses).

These four non-theological arguments (made either by those who are on the liberal end of the spectrum, or those on the conservative end) are part of a secular discussion and should not figure into the argument in an ecclesial or theological context.

Before writing Icons of Christ, Witt was encouraged by a colleague at Trinity School for Ministry to write essays about women’s ordination. The Rev. Dr. Martha Giltinan was an ordained priest in the ACNA (Anglican Church in North America) who died in 2014. She had served for a number of years in an ACNA parish in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, and also taught at TSM. She saw a need for scholarly work on the topic of women’s ordination, with an emphasis on its biblical and theological foundations. William Witt was qualified to write in this area.  He in turn encouraged Giltinan to write about it, but she persisted, and he finally began to write some essays on the topic around the time she died of leukemia in 2014. From that point, the project grew until it became Icons of Christ. It is a project that owes much to the vision of an ACNA priest who understood the need for a scholarly work on the topic.

This book contributes well to a sorely needed discussion. Sadly, more than one denomination has settled the debate on women’s ordination with acrimonious splits. Icons of Christ seeks to promote respectful conversation, and to encourage all Christians, lay and ordained, to grow in their faith, to be built up in love, as each part does its work (Ephesians 4: 16).

Icons of Christ is well organized, with sixty pages of helpful endnotes, plus a substantial bibliography and index. After a short introduction, the majority of the book (two sections) deals with Protestant and Catholic arguments, then concludes with two chapters about what the New Testament says about women in office, and what it says about female bishops and presbyters, and its present-day implications. While it is helpful to many, Witt wrote primarily to encourage orthodox ordained women clergy to use their gifts and pursue their calling. This book encourages me, and I am grateful for its addition to my library of books on this topic.

I recommend Icons of Christ as a helpful resource that lays out several views in a scholarly, readable way. It encourages communication across the views in a balanced, insightful way. I hope that it will be a helpful resource for those who support women’s ordination, and for those who do not.   TAP

The Rev. Dr. Barbara Richardson is Rector of St Chad’s in Toronto, an ANiC church, which is affiliated with ACNA. She will have been ordained for 30 years this November.